A Labour government would publish and consult on draft legislation which will cover: Introducing a "single publication rule" to prevent claimants from bringing a separate claim for every time a story is read on the internet; The creation of a statutory public interest defence; Curbing the spread of "libel tourism".
The bill would create a new statutory defence of responsible publication on matters of public interest, refining what was previously known as the Reynolds defence in libel cases.
At the hospital (meso) level, we do not know which national policy levers (policy expectations, statutory law/regulation, sanctions, guidance, publication of information, etc).
A draft defamation bill will be published this spring, setting out a statutory defence of public interest, restricting so-called libel tourism – which has seen foreign citizens bring cases against foreign publications in British courts – and limiting the ability of plaintiffs to threaten libel cases on trivial grounds.
Key to this will be the new post of chief inspector of hospitals - announced immediately after the publication of the public inquiry - and the statutory duty of the NHS to be honest about mistakes, known as a duty of candour.
In particular, he promised that the government would address issues such as libel tourism, the current lack of a robust public interest statutory defence and the inability of current libel law to deal fairly with internet publication.
Which is important because English law imposes a statutory limitation of one year after publication for someone to bring a defamation action.
4.56pm BST Nick Clegg's Q&A - summary Here are the main points from Nick Clegg's Q&A Clegg signalled that he would be willing to accept some form of statutory regulation of the press following the publication of the Leveson report.
This statutory fee includes the service (and the vicar), and publication and certificates of banns and marriage.
He signalled it in an editorial following the publication of Lord Justice Leveson's report that recommended statutory underpinning for the new regulator.
